Holding angels
by AGirlThatDaresToDream
Summary: In the world where the vampires have complete control over humans, Elena dies in a car accident, but comes back as an angel. Damon is a vampire working in a centre for researching species, waiting for a sign. What will happen when he is the head of her research? And what will rumours about Elena's transition cause among downtrodden humans? DELENA. Read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome reader! Just a few words, before you read this chapter. **

**So: the idea for this story was stuck in my head, for a long time and I finally decided to share it with you. As you will, for shore, notice English is not my mother tongue, so please bear with me if there are any mistakes in the text. Also this is my first fanfiction, so please let me know what you think about it, by clicking the review button. Here you go.**

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**Chapter 1**

A man with coal-like dark hair, dressed in black was sitting at a huge, old looking table in the board room, tapping his fingers nervously and glancing at the clock, like he was waiting for something to happen. The other people in the room were, unlike him, standing and talking to each other loudly even thought it was still early. He knew what they were talking about. This was the first time that they have come over something they never knew existed. He let himself smile, wondering what kind of theories they are going to have for this one. For their last unknown specimen it turned out to be just a very confused werewolf. He never forged stories on rumours, it would be unprofessional.

The sound of door opening was what brought him from his thoughts and he focused his eyes on the man who entered. He was dressed in a white robe with a badge which said: Richard Blakemore -The director of the Centre for researches of species or CRS on short. He looked around forty fife years old, with his greying hair, but Damon knew better than to guess his real age. Employees hurried to their chairs and the room grew silent.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice" Blakemore said, but didn't bother to sit. "As you may have heard, we received a very special case last night. A specimen of a kind unknown to us yet, something that hasn't happened in last eighty years, so you should all understand that learning about this specimen is our first priority in the moment." He scanned over them with a hard expression on his face. "Due to this circumstances, some other researches will be put on hold or will be slowed down." He stopped for a second till all of the groans died down and the room was covered in silence again. "At the end of this meeting you will be given plans for your researches. But now we have to focus on our newest acquisition. I have selected a head of the new research on the strength of experiences and achievements. This person will be the only one apart from me who will have the access to the specimen. His job will be determining everything about the research, and report back to me about his findings. I expect that if he asks for some help you will give it to him in order to quicken the process. " He paused again to look at the man dressed in black. "The head of this research will be Damon Salvatore, I will choose his two helpers when he will need them. I will not except any complains. My decision is final." Damon didn't even blink when he felt himself being dismembered by the looks of almost every person at the table. "This is all for now" Blakemore continued. "You can come to get your plans… O, and Damon, wait for me in my office… We have to talk about your new occupation."

Damon nodded, stood up and found his way to the door not bothered by his still unfriendly co-workers. He was used of them being jealous, and he could understand why. This was an extremely important case, but they could know that he will be the one to get in, based on this, that he was working here for over a hundred years, from the day the CRS opened its door. The whole purpose of this centre was to provide safety for the community of vampires. They were trying to create a vaccine so that they would be immune to werewolf bites, for example. They will have to make sure that this new specimen is not dangerous to them, or if it is what can protect you from it and found as many information about this new species as possible.

He wasn't even waiting for three minutes, when his boss came. They were working together for a really long time, before the council voted him and he became a director, but they never talked a lot. It wasn't personal, just about Blackmore's approach really.

"So Damon" Blakemore said after he congratulated him on his new research. "I just wanted to make sure you realize that we have to get results of this research as soon as we can, and that you will use all the means we have and be as impartial as possible. Don't let anything hold you back, this thing could be the death of us all."

"Of course, sir. I fully understand the situation" Damon stated through his teeth. This is why they didn't really get along. Many vampires thought the same as Blackmore. They thought of their kind as the best kind, which should overpower all other species, which meant nothing to them if they weren't dangerous. Although he didn't complain over the position of the vampires, he hated this kind of thinking. It was wrong.

"Alright then, the specimens file has number 121, it is based in room 57…" He turned around, found a key with the right number and gave it to him. "There you go… I will hear from you soon."

….

His footsteps echoed through the white corridor and the fluorescent lights were gently flashing above his coal-like hair. He hated this place; it felt wrong. It was too bright, too clean, and smelled kind of like hospital, but it was exactly what it needed to be like.

It didn't bother him like it usually did thought. He was already dressed in his white robe uniform, curious and excited for what he was about to see. Nobody told him anything about the specimen yet. It was the policy here. Only the researchers on the same case could talk to each other about it.

He allowed himself to look to his right, as he started to pass by at least fifty white, heavy door made of metal, with large black numbers painted on them. On every two of those stood a man and nodded to him as he hurried by. He didn't even bother to nod back. …..54…..55…..56….57. He stopped in front of the right ones, looked at them and put on his gloves. Better safe than sorry. There was a small peephole in the door but he didn't want to ruin himself a surprise. He took a deep breath before opening them.

Nothing could prepare him for what he saw in the moment he stepped in to the room. Across it in its corner sat a teenage girl, already dressed in a lightly green hospital nightgown, shaking. What made him freeze thought, were her white wings, wrapped around her.

He believed in God, kind of. He believed in the last judgement, hell and heaven. Now he was looking at the angel. He just couldn't believe it. After all those years someone finally decided to send him a sign? Or she was just a first specimen of new kind? He heard rumours and stories about angels in last year, mostly told by people and he never even thought they could be real.

He stared at the angel who hasn't noticed him yet. She looked young; her long brown hair falling in soft waves around her shoulders and the wings that gave her beauty a mysterious appearance. He jumped as he heard a loud noise of the shutting door. The girl finally lifted her face form her knees and looked at him still visibly trembling and crying, her face full of fear and grief. He was used to specimens being scared, but it was grief that surprised him. She also looked in shock, but he had to get his answers. He walked to her slowly not wanting to scare her more, and squat on the floor about a step away. She didn't make a sound or move a muscle, her eyes following every move he made. He reached out and stroked one of her wings, making her try to get further away from him and squeezing in the corner. He couldn't help himself; he needed to make sure she was real.

"How did you get here?" His voice was quiet but determined.

"I- I don't know" The girl stated, but before she could ask him anything he interrupted her.

"Did someone send you?"

She faced him, still silently crying. "What are you t-talking about?"

God, why couldn't she just answer the simplest question? He grabbed her by her shoulders, frustrated, his voice getting louder. "What are you doing here?" he practically jelled. "Why did they send you?"

The girl was terrified at this point as she screamed, now shuddering even more. "I don't know, OK?!" He stopped yelling and looked at her face covered in tears. "I-It was water. I don't know w-what happened to them… I couldn't breathe."

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**What do you think? Let me know in the reviews. **

**Till next time,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, readers **

**I wanted to surprise you with this new chapter, since you all said that you like the story. I appreciate everyone who reviewed, followed this story or added it at favourites. It means so much to me to know what your opinion is. You are amazing ;) **

**Ok, enough of talking. In his chapter you will see what happened to Elena and also learn more about the position of humans in this world. Enjoy!**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

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**CHAPTER 2**

**Flashback**

The soft spring breeze stroked Elena's face, as she waited for her parents to pick her up. It was around 11p.m., when she said last goodbyes at Caroline's birthday party. It was too big for her taste; her best friend of course decided to invite the whole school, but it wasn't like she didn't expect this. We are talking about Caroline after all. Otherwise it was great: good songs, close friends and the birthday girl's face when she opened the present she got her outweigh everything she didn't like. After almost two weeks of deflection, Matt finally decided to talk to her again, and it made night even better, knowing that even after their break up, she hasn't lost her friend.

She didn't have to wait long, just as she was about to text her mom where they were, she noticed the car lights at the beginning of the street. She smiled at the thought of her parents at the diner date. Two days ago they set todays date to celebrate their fifteen marriage anniversary. Jeremy wisely decided to stay at home, enjoying his time alone, acting like a typical teenager.

The car stopped in front of her, she sat on the back sit slamming the door behind her.

"Hi" she greeted, not bothering to put on a seatbelt. "How was it?"

"Hey sweetie" her mom replied, before looking to her husband, smirking. "Good, just like those times long ago, when we were still young…"

"And we haven't had two teens to look after" Elena's dad added, causing all of them to laugh.

"And the party?" her mom asked.

"It was OK." The girl said. "Great actually: Matt started to talk to me again, and Caroline loved the shoes I bought her. She couldn't stop thanking me… O! And she invited me to the cinema next Saturday. Can I go?"

"Saturday? I don't know yet. We kind of planed to go to the hospital and get over with the blood giving for this half of the year."

Elena pulled a face. Ever since the agreement between vampires and humans was signed, every human between the ages of fifteen to sixty had to give a bag of his or hers blood for this immortal monsters to feed on. This agreement insured them that the vampires won't attack humans. Everybody knew that it was still happening, but not nearly as numerically as it would, if they would broke the deal, thought.

"I'm not going." Elena stated, stubbornly.

"Elena…" Her mother's voice turned strict.

"No, I am not going! This whole deal, agreement our politicians signed is wrong. They only did this because they were afraid, forced or compelled to."

"Listen to me very carefully now Elena." Her father glanced back at her. "We all know what is really happening. But you have to believe me when I tell you this: We don't stand a chance against them. We are lucky they even offered us a deal. If they wouldn't we would all be long dead."

"I know, but…"

"Of course you do. And promise me…" He turned around to face her. "That you will never say something like that in public. Even here we could be heard. It is dangerous, kid."

She looked him in his eyes. "I…" Before she could say anything else, she felt like the car was flying, but only for a moment before it crashed in to the cold water. She couldn't even breathe and after a few seconds of trying to break the car window, she took a last glance at her unconscious parents, right before everything turned black.

She had no idea how much time has passed before she could say she was conscious again. She was trying to catch her breath, lying on her stomach her at the embankment with her legs still in the water. As soon as she realized what happened she started calling for her mum and dad weakly, but no one answered. Something white couth her eyes, and she looked over her shoulder, only to find a pair of big, wet wings on her back. The sound of the siren was the last thing she heard.

**The present**

Elena woke up as the door to her room closed, only to find a plate full of food at the floor in front of it. There was a sandwich, a glass of orange juice and some vegetables on it, and even thought she was too sad to feel the hunger, she knew she was going to need to try to dig in. She is, for sure, going to need the energy.

She stood from the cold corner on the floor where she fell asleep, sitting. Her eyes wondered across the room for a few seconds. It was small; its walls painted white and the only three pieces of furniture were a bed, toilet and a washbasin, which were almost entirely hidden behind the grey curtain. She wiped her still watery eyes and stretch, observing how she was able to move and feel her wings. She had no idea what happened to her. This just couldn't be really happening. She still couldn't believe that her parents might be dead, either. Holding on with everything she had to the hope that maybe this is all just a bad dream and she isn't trapped in the RS-centre, after all. Yes, she was scared. This place was, after all, a part of almost every scary story based on the community of vampires. In almost of them, there was at least mentioned torture. For now all she could do was praying that the stories aren't true.

…...

Damon, stood in front of the door looking through the peephole, a little longer than necessary. Three hours passed since he questioned the girl and got nothing but "I don't knows" and completely scattered answers about water and "them". He had no idea what to think, still hoping that she was just so confused, that she didn't remember anything important. He should start from the beginning, thought.

He entered the archive and soon found last night's records flipping the pages until he saw number 121. He sat on the manky armchair and started to read.

_The subject was found at the end of Mystic Falls, at the Wickery Bridge on May 23, around quarter past eleven p.m.. We received a call from the human emergency medical service , they said that they found a member of the strange kind, which they didn't knew. They described it as an angel. They were called to the Wickery bridge last night by the witness of the car accident in which two adults (Miranda and Grayson Gilbert) died. The witness claimed, that five minutes after eleven p.m., the car crashed from the bridge to the river. The emergency medical service recognized the specimen as Elena Gilbert, the daughter of the mentioned couple. Only then they noticed something was wrong. They also confirmed that there was no possibility that the girl could survive the accident. The specimen was unconscious when our services arrived and brought to the CRS quarters. _

Damon stopped, trying to restrain the hope which was disappearing, quickly substituted with disappointment. But not all was lost yet. He needed to speak to the girl again.

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**What do you think? Do you like this story? What don't you like? What do you think will happen next? Let me know, by rewieving, following or adding this story as your favourite. Every opinion or thought is welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again, my beloved readers!**

**New update again :), despite all of the exams… I couldn't help myself; I just love this story so much… Before you begin, I want to thank you for your all for supporting this story (reviewing, following or adding it as your favourite.) You are the best. ;) **

**So in this chapter you will accompany Damon as he will try to talk to Elena calmly and started his research, and Elena who is trying to keep herself together. Enjoy,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

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**Chapter 3**

She was sitting on the bed, whit her knees pressed to her chest watching her wings gently flap like she wanted them to at the corner of her eyes. It was strange, feeling how the wind she created caressed the feathers. Strange, but beautiful and peaceful at the same time, helping her not to focus on the mess she was in. Not for long, unfortunately.

As soon as she heard footsteps stop in front of her room, she stood up, feeling the cold of the cement floor under her bare feet. She took a step back when she saw the visitor. It was the man from before. The vampire from before, she corrected herself. The one that asked questions. Panic ran through her. She wasn't ready for this. Not yet.

….

Damon hesitated for a second, when he saw how the fear made angels body tense. He knew that if he was going to scare her too much, she won't be able to tell him anything. Hell, he didn't even know if there was anything else for him to figure out.

He opened the case he was carrying in his right hand, less than a second ago and pulled out the girls file, which was still empty, except for the photocopy of last night's record.

He sighed not knowing where to start, trying to be as professional as possible.

"My name is Damon Salvatore and I am the head of your research. You will be informed about any progresses in it." He raised his eyebrows. "If you would like to know about them, of course."

He looked at the girl who was still keeping a safety distance between them, but offered him a small and silent nod as an answer. "Great," he smiled. "Now all we have to do is to fill up this file and then I will have to take your blood sample." He sat down on the floor, right where he was standing before and signalled her to do the same. She didn't move.

"Look, I am not going to eat you or anything, OK? I'm just trying to do my job."

She slowly followed his movements, but not before she took another step back. "So you are going to tell me about what you are going to do before doing it?" Her voice was quiet, but strong. Although she obviously tried to hide it he could still hear the shadow of fear in it.

"Yeah, that's the process," he confirmed, even if only him and maybe two other researchers really considered it.

"Thanks." He looked at her surprised. Thanks? This certainly wasn't a response he expected. It was like she knew, that not everyone here is like him. The hope and curiosity inside him started to grow.

"So… I will ask you some questions for the file now. We will start with the easy ones. You shouldn't have any need to lie to me, if you do, I have to warn you, I will know." She didn't even blink at the treat, just slowly and carefully flapped with her wings.

"What's your name and how old are you?" Was she still the same person, or just a body in someone else's hands?

"Elena Gilbert, I am sixteen." Still the same soul then, he thought, when he noted the data to the file.

She answered all of his questions without restraint, but he could see her becoming uneasy when he asked her about what happened last night.

"The car… When we were driving home we… We were talking; my dad turned around, and lost control of the car I guess…" She was hugging herself now, gently rocking back and forth.

"What were you talking about?" he asked, interested in knowing the answer.

She glanced at him, with a cold look. "It's not important."

He decided to let it go. "Continue, then."

She did as he said her voice so quiet she was almost whispering. "I fell unconscious almost instantly. I couldn't breathe… I woke up on the side of the river like this, when I woke up again I was here."

Disappointment and anger flooded him. "So you don't remember anything from when you were unconscious? You heard nothing? Didn't dream of anything or something like that?"

"Not that I remember." They just sat there intent in their thoughts as the silence lasted. Damon was angry not at the girl, thought, but at himself, for blindly believing in something and expecting a sign. It was just stupid. Her question brought him back, to reality.

"What happened to them? My parents?" She looked scared of the answer.

He closed his case, without even looking at her and head to the door. "They are dead," he snapped before he slammed them behind him.

….

He couldn't remember the last time he felt such disappointment. He launched himself on the chair in his office, after throwing all of the files on table to the floor. He tried to calm himself down, drowning his thoughts in a glass of bourbon. It helped him think.

He sat there for almost an hour, just emptying the bottle and thinking about the world, God, if there was one and the girl. There were two possibilities he was finally sure.

First is that she really has no idea why this happened, but she is still an angel, so there has to be purpose for why she became one. Looks like whoever is up there and runs this world, didn't want her to die. He didn't care if it was the nature or God. If this is true, he will found answers trough the research.

The second was that she was lying, and she actually does remember something she's not telling him.

The first possibility was much more reasonable, because she knows about compulsion, but maybe she had been told not to tell him the information she could be hiding. Well at least finding the true isn't going to be hard, he half smiled, than grew solemn.

He snapped at her, when she just lost her parents. Great job, Damon. She was probably crying her eyes out, not willing to tell him anything by her free will ever again. But what was done was done, he is not going to apologise for it, even if he knew it was wrong. His first priority now was to found out what is really going on.

…...

Elena still sat like she did when he was there, crying with her eyes closed, all of her hope gone with only one sentence. They are dead… They are dead…. The words echoed through her head like a cry in the tunnel. She thought about Jeremy. He must be so alone now, only fourteen years old and already without a family. It was wrong. She should be there for him instead of being stuck here, with the vampire who was only interested this research because he obviously thought she was send to him by god. She stopped at the thought for a moment trying to distract herself, thinking about what the hell did he want an angel for.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again ;)**

**DID YOU GUYS WATCH THE FINAL EPISODE OF SEASON 5?! If you didn't don't worry, there will be no spoilers… Al I am goanna say is this: It is going to be a long wait till next season; it took almost half an hour for my sister to calm me down enough that I stopped crying, and I am still in shock.**

**So here is the next chapter, when I uploaded chapter three Fanfiction was acting up a bit, it was still uploaded, thought, I don't know if you, my darling followers were informed about it… **

**All your thoughts about this story are welcome in reviews ;)**

**Till next time,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

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**Chapter 4**

The rain greeted her, embraced her with thousands of tiny droplets, causing her to giggle. She was running, and twirling on the perfectly green meadow, near the forest, her clothes completely soaked because of the rain, but that didn't bother her. She was happy. Suddenly the raining stopped, causing her to look around confused. The gale started to blow, lifting her of the ground, and she closed her eyes suddenly scared, started to suspect what is about to happen. She didn't have much time to think, thought, because the next moment she found herself in the water, without a breath of oxygen, she opened her eyes only to found herself in the backseat of their car with her parents unconscious in front of her. She didn't give up yet thought, fighting to get them out, until the darkness surrounded her, and she knew she was dead.

….

Elena woke up with a gasp, and buried her face in her shaking hands, wanting to calm down before facing the reality. She did this. She caused the accident because she was so stubborn. It was her fault they lost her parents. She and Jeremy. She has been thinking about him a lot, asking herself if he knew she was here, or buried in an empty coffin with her name on it, alongside their parents. She thought of all the happy memories with her family, which submerge her into a lake of guilt, but calmed her anyway. She wiped the remaining tears away, scanning the room. The fluorescent lights weren't as bright as they were when she fell asleep; the only evidence she had that it was night.

She knew in a few hours, the vampire will come again. His outburst yesterday was rude and it scared her. She noted that she will have to be more careful what she asks and when. After the enquiring, when he left and she calmed down, she made a plan. Nobody knew what happens to the specimens after they learned everything they wanted to know, but she was sure they won't just let her go. So she will do what they will ask, tell them what they wanted to know so they won't be suspicious, but she will have to stay strong and wait for the opportunity to get out of this mess somehow.

She stood from the bed, slowly heading to the washbasin, when the lights started to shine brighter as did her hope of seeing her brother again.

…...

Damon didn't sleep at all that night. He stayed up, trying to learn as much as he could of the girl's life, before she became like this. He didn't found much except what her parents' jobs were, that she has a brother and that the cheerleading team she was in won on some competition last year. No incidents with the vampires or the police. An information witch made him tend to his first possibility more. He looked at the clock; looks like his wait was over.

….

She knew it was time as soon as she heard his footsteps. She sat still on the bad trying to tame her fear, not bothering to turn around when she heard him enter. She took her time trying to collect herself as much as she could before facing him, instantly feeling his eyes on her.

He was leaning to the wall across the room, just staring at her, making her feel uncomfortable as she felt her fear rise, but tried to hide it. She knew she could do this.

He moved towards her slowly, but she didn't move like the last time, just waited. He didn't say anything until he was standing right in front of her looking deeply in her brown eyes.

"Was everything you told me yesterday the truth?" He asked, and she could see his pupil shrinkng and widening. "Did you tell me everything you remember?"

Her eyes widened in realisation. "Are you trying to compel me?" She could see the shock written all over his face as he stepped back for a moment, glaring at her, his voice suddenly rough.

"Did you drink vervain at home?" She didn't answer him immediately and that seemed to irritate him more. "Tell me!" His jell made her flinch as he put his hands on her shoulders shaking her.

She bit her lip trying not to scream. Her family just like most of the others had a bottle of vervain at home, hid safely in their basement. They didn't drink it, thought, saving it for a time when the war between humans and vampires might start again. This plant was illicit for humans to have because of the damage it could do to the creatures who wrote the law about it. She knew that if she tells him about it he will send her brother to prison. So she chose the middle road.

"No, I didn't drink vervain." He let go of her, and she could see that he was trying to control himself again.

"You better not be lying to me." He uttered trough his teeth.

"I am not," she stated, trying to stop her voice from shaking. "Everything I said was the truth, and I did tell you the whole story."

His eyes burned into hers for a few long seconds.

"OK." He said then his voice returning to normal, and she almost signed with relief.

"So… What do we have to do today?" She tried to break the unpleasant silence.

He ran a hand through his short black hair, before glancing at the folder in his hands and replying. "I have to take your blood sample and then we will talk about your wings for a while. If I will be able to push you in to the row, we might also get the X-ray done today."

She could fell a tremble ran through her body as he mentioned the blood sample. A vampire taking blood? Not a good idea.

Looks like he saw her hesitation because he smirked at her. "When I told you I am not goanna eat you yesterday I meant it you know?" He said, taking her left hand in his gently after taking a needle out of his case.

She looked at what he was doing until the needle was drawn nearer her hand and then turned away.

….

He could sense the smell of her blood in the air as soon as he pierced her skin. But didn't let it distract him, like he learned many years ago. When both of the test tubes were filled, he pressed the gauze over the needle before dragging it out of her arm, and taping it with the mikropore carefully.

Despite the shock after he learned that she cannot be compelled, he believed her words, but promised himself that he will try again next time. If she would be on vervain it would be out of her system until tomorrow. But he was almost certain, she knew nothing now. Just a confused angel, who didn't know what its task was, but was led right to him, he thought. And he couldn't stop himself from smiling at the look on her face as she turned and saw that he was already done.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Hi readers ;) **

**Here you go: another chapter :) Along with the review for the last chapter I also got a request about the length of the chapters, here I my response: **

**For Sere'sLight:**

**Thank you for pointing this out. I agree they are not as long as chapters from other stories I read on this side, but you should understand, that English is not my mother tongue. Sure I have good marks at it (it's also one of my favourite classes) and everything, but I still spend hours working on one chapter, till everything is as I imagined it and I fix all of the mistakes. That means that is I would write really long chapters you would have to wait for them longer. What is also holding me back is my school work. I was ill a lot this year and even had an operation so I am trying hard to catch up with everything my classmates had already learned and at the same time learning for exams both the ones I missed and the ones on the school calendar. Of course I will try to write slightly longer chapters but after June the sixth, when I finish with all exams. I cannot say that I will be writhing chapters twice as long as the ones before, because that would be a lie, but I will try to lengthen them for you little by little. Also I like that you pointed that out, because one of the reasons that I started to write this story, beside my passion for writing and love for The Vampire diaries, of course, was also to see what will the response for it be. If you find big mistakes anything like that to help me improve my writing even more I already did, or have any questions about the story please just tell me. I will be happy to see that and I will attentively think about all of your requests as they are cultural, as I know they will be.**

**Love,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream.**

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**Chapter 5**

She closed her eyes as the needle pierced her skin, not because of the sting, but of fear that she will be drained dry in less than a second. She kept expecting the pain in her neck, but it never came as she heard a popping sound of the test tubes being closed and the vampire stuck the gauze over the still bleeding wound.

Only when she sensed his thumb gently and quickly ran over the bandaged area, she dared to turn around, with knowledge that the mix of relief, surprise and curiosity was written all over her face. She didn't feel the need to hide he emotions in this moment, they didn't show what was really going on in her heart. Sadness and grief trapped in the cage made of fear.

She found herself looking at the eyes of the monster which didn't show its real fangs yet, smiling at her. It was strange how she was afraid of him yet in that moment she was sure the smile is authentic. Maybe she will get some answers tonight after all.

….

Their eyes locked just for a moment and he had to remind himself that she is a threat. He cleared his thoughts. "So, we will go to another room now. It has everything we need and it's also more comfortable, so we will talk there, OK?"

He could see her eyes lit up just for a short moment, at the thought of leaving the room even if only for a few minutes and for research needs before she had time to hide it. But it was enough for him.

He took his walkie-talkie out of the pocket of his white grown, informed the security about their move and she gently flap her wings when his voice cut the silence again. "Don't do anything stupid, OK? The security system here is one of the best in the world; there is no way you could escape." She didn't answer him, so he let her sense the threat in his next sentence. "_Do you understand_?" She jumped, stood from the bed ad took a step back, frightened, her response quiet. "I do."

"Good" he replied just as the security notified him that everything was clear. "Here we go then."

He followed the girl whit his eyes as she hesitantly followed him on the hallway, the guards surrounding her instantly.

…..

The room he took her too wasn't much bigger than hers, but it had a table with two chairs and many medical instruments in it. She could almost feel the sunlight that was coming thought the window and was emphasized by orange coloured walls.

The man sat down on the other side of the table and signalled her to do the same, she did what he wanted but not before scanning the chair for a second. Of course it was made of metal; in fact everything here was made of it or of plastic, not a single inch of wood anywhere. What did they think? That she is dumb enough to try to stake a vampire?

"It's just one of the safety measures." His voice echoed through her ears. "There are many specimens here, you know. Some of them are far more dangerous than you are."

She looked at him with interest, scanning his expression. "You think I am dangerous? Didn't you listen to me yesterday?" She hesitated for a moment at how she should address him, but then just gave up. "I don't know what happened to me."

"Is it OK if I call you Elena?" The question took her aback, but she nodded.

"Well than I think you can call me Damon." He surprised her with this; it didn't quite match his formality yesterday. "And you should know that my job is to find out if you have any dangerous capabilities. My opinion in this research is not important, and is only mine to know."

She nodded in understanding and let a tiny drop of hope fill her heart. He believed her.

….

He could almost feel her relax when she saw the sun shining through the safety locked window. It fascinated him how the smallest things like this, could bring her a moment of joy even in situation she was in. He had researched more than thirty specimens before and none of them experienced a traumatic experience before they came here, yet despite the fear and the grief he sensed even if she tried to hide it she still was hopeful and seemed to keep her naïve believes about the word the same. She truly was special.

"So, Elena, tell me. Can you fly with those wings?"

"I have been asking myself the same thing." She shrugged. "I really don't know. I didn't have time or the will to try before I came here." The sadness in her voice was evident.

"I guess we will have to figure this out ourselves than. I will have to measure them thought, OK?"

He ran his hand, over her left wing, feeling her shiver whit fear, her snow- white feathers softer than a pillow, before taking the tape measure from the table. She had to be sent to him, there was no other option of why something so sacred was standing right in front of him. And in that moment his only hope for Gods forgiveness was to make her time with him as bearable as possible.

….

As soon as he was done she backed away from him. He was being almost too gentle now and it worried her, she was constantly expecting him to yell at her for no reason again, but it was now or never.

"Can I ask you something… Damon?" She tried to sound as normal as possible, but the truth was that waiting for his answer was nerve-racking.

He turned his attention from the folder to her, surprised, scanned her face before saying: "Sure you can, but it depends on your question if I will give you the answer or not."

She swallowed, before continuing. "It's just…. Do you know what happened to my bother? He is underage and I am the only one he has now, but I am here so… He is not alone is he? Does he think I am dead?" She stared at the floor as the room grew quiet, waiting.

She heard him move towards her and couldn't stop herself from stepping back until he realized what was happening and stopped trying.

"As far as I know he lives with your aunt, at your house…" The response came unexpected. "And about you… I am sure he knows you are here, rumours like this spread quickly among humans, although you know he can't do anything about it."

She stared at him, locking their eyes. "I wasn't asking this for me."

…

He lost himself at the intensiveness of her gaze. She sounded almost offended at his last statement, like he was accusing her of being selfish, which she wouldn't be in his eyes even if she would ask that for her hope of being free ever gain to grow.

But her voice softened before she added last three words. "But thank you."

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**I just want to thank everyone who clicked followed/favourite for this story and also my reviewers:**

**Petrovaaa: I am so glad you like the story especially because at first I wasn't sure about posting it. I just want to make sure that you know that your reviews make my day better ;) AGirlThatDaresToDream**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi again, my dear readers :) **

**This is the last chapter I will update before June the sixth; next one will be really interesting and a little longer, as I promised. I left you a tip of what is it going to be about in the last paragraph. Enjoy,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

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**Chapter 6**

He kept toing and froing, right outside his bosses' office, counting the light clicks of the clock, at the start of the long hallway. Just three more minutes… He hated waiting, ever since he was a child this was something he was known for. His mother used to laugh as she saw him almost trembling because of the rush energy, when he was counting seconds to new year out loud, waiting for the party to really begin. It was one of the too few happy moments of his childhood, before it got ruined.

He almost jumped as the sound of the minute hand brought him back to reality. It was his first meeting with Blakemore since he gave him the key to Elena's room and not entirely knowing why he was nervous. He blamed it on the wait. He cursed himself for purposefully coming early, but it was something he learned a long time ago was polite and looked like he will ever be able to wean himself from. So he waited for another tic, before entering the room perfectly on time.

Blakemore was talking on his phone when he walked in, probably with his wife, nodded at him and motioned him to sit on the comfortable armchair. "Ok, honey I promise, but you don't wait for me, I will be late anyway." Damon's eyes wondered over the room, avoiding his bosses face as he was forced to listen to his private conversation, asking himself why he didn't come late again. "Got to go, love you." It was obvious he spoke the truth just from the sound of his voice.

He finished the call and cleared his throat. "Sorry about that. She somehow always manages to call at the wrong timing." He smiled but stopped when Damon didn't bother to reply. "Shall we start then?" It wasn't a question. "What did you found out about specimen 121? Is the research going well?"

Specimen 121. He should refer to her like that too. Like she was nothing, just an object of his research, but he couldn't. Not in this case. Not when he was talking to an angel. Calling her by her name was his gift to her, a gift she didn't even know about, a gift he shouldn't afford, but he did. "It's going great, sir. The blood tests were strange thought, and I am still waiting for the x-ray picture, but otherwise everything is going smooth and quick."

"What do you mean by strange? Her blood isn't drinkable?"

"It looks like it isn't, no. But that is not what I meant. It's its structure that bothers me. It is the same as human blood but with a strange substance added in it, we are still trying to figure out which. The reason for us not to be able to drink it is right this substance."

"So you think this… transformation… could be genetically conditioned?"

"It is one of the possibilities, sir, but we cannot be sure. If it weren't for her wings we could easily think she is a normal human being. The only difference is that her heartbeat is a little quicker. As for the wings… If my calculations are right, she should be able to fly with them, but she is claiming she never had time to try or learn. Oh, and the compulsion doesn't work on her."

"Did she drink vervain?" Blakemore asked clearly not happy about his employee referring to specimen as her, but there was not even a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Damon shook his head. "It would be out of her system by now."

The room grew silent for a moment when the older looking vampire tried to gather all of the information before forming his next question.

"Such a little difference, so much hope," he seemed lost in thoughts. "Did you know what humans think is this thing?"

Damon shrugged. He was more into finding out what the girl is meant to do for him.

"They think it is one of the angels from their stories. They think that it will destroy us and win the war for them, they think it will save them." He watched the other man's reaction before continuing: "Our government forbid human media to talk about it of course… But the rumours won't die down even after we compelled all of the rescuers, to forget what they saw. They are spreading like a spiders net, bringing hope to humans they never should had." His voice was full of contempt now.

Damon waited until their eyes locked again. "We were all humans once." They stared at each other for a small second, tension building, before he continued. "It doesn't matter what they think. Their hope is false. The girl is breakable. I don't know if she can die, but it looks like she has no chance against us."

"For now." Blakemore interrupted him.

Damon bowed his head. "For now."

"So…"after a moment the boss cleared his throat. "You should know that the humans aren't the only ones who want to know more about the specimen. Of course we expected our news to report about it and we gave them limited information, but yesterday I received a letter from Elijah Mickelson, wanting us to weekly update him about the course of the research and its outcomes."

Damon swore in his mind. The Michelson's? Why did they always have to know everything? The family was known as the puppeteers behind the vampires that were elected by their kind every ten years. They were the original vampires, formers of it all. They united the vampires; created their parliament and government, this system... Hell, they even build this centre, somehow convinced human government to sign the agreement and lay their lives in their hands… It seemed like nothing could escape their influence. And of course they were not able to keep themselves away from what was only a threat to them, but seemed to be his last chance to save his soul. They were tyrants, there was not a word to describe them better, but they did a lot for their race so even though they were killing his nerves with all these surveillance measures he could never say that he hated them. They were the reason vampires lived in such luxury and even if he wasn't completely happy with the way they treated humans he would never change that if it would mean that their kind would lost their status. He knew it was selfish but he didn't take it into consideration. Not once.

"So what does that mean for my work?" He asked, waiting nervously for the answer.

"It doesn't change anything about it. Just keep doing your job, getting all we need as fast as you can like we agreed before you started, and we will see each other once a week to talk about the results."

Damon nodded. "As for now, you should found out if this thing is genetically conditioned and head to 121s family tomorrow. When you will learn more about that strange substance in specimen's blood, and get the x-ray pictures, we will talk more."

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**Review and tell me what you think…**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello readers!**

**New chapter is here and it's a long one as I promised :) I finished all my exams and have only three days of real classes left. After that I will have two sports days and then finally get my certificate on twenty-fourth of June. I can't wait for holidays! **

**OK, so this is the first chapter from Jeremy's POV and don't worry it's not the only one. Hope you like it,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

The door squeaked quietly as he entered the room, gasping at the sight that reawakened his emotions the pain and the rage haven't soothe down not even for a moment in last five days, but when he entered his sisters room, they deepened. He staggered to her bed and closed his eyes trying to hold back the tears that were suddenly urging to flow when the emptiness of the room reminded him of what his task was.

Fife days passed and there was still no information about Elena, the only thing he knew was where she was. His imagination didn't give him a break, showing him pictures of his scared sister trapped in the perfectly white room, screaming. It was enough to push him to the edge of the nervous breakdown, his hands shaking like if he would be lying in the snow for an hour and his heart beating way to fast. It was his plan what was helping him to collect himself each time, not Jenna's unsuccessful attempts of comfort. He didn't need them all he needed was to save the only part of his family that was hopefully still able to be saved.

Making unrealistic plans in his head calmed him enough to open his eyes and look around. The room was tidy as always, everything on its rightful place. Elena different from him loved to keep it that way, sometimes teasing him that he lived in more like a cave than a room, because of his laziness. Something didn't look right, thought, a dark pink curtains were pulled over both of the windows, mugging the area of any light, wrapping the room in sadness.

He stood from the bed and walked to the window but not before stopping in front of the mirror, surrounded by family photos. He stared at the one taken this Christmas. The four of them were standing in front of the tree that they just finished dressing with what seemed like a hundred of glassed balls, lighting them with many small colourful lights that caused their smiling faces to look green and red. They all looked so happy in this picture in a big family hug. His eyes observed the picture for a little longer before it was too much, the smiling faces of his parents remembering him of their funeral, clearly seeing their coffins before his eyes and his crying aunt standing beside him. He didn't cry that day, silently promising his parents' bodies that he won't let himself do that before successfully saving his sister. He owed much more than that to them and he needed Elena to be save before losing himself in grief. "I won't fail you" He whispered, before drawing back the curtains, filling the room with what he knew Elena would see as hope.

…...

The house in front of which he was standing looked like a typical family home, its white façade and green shutters radiating cosiness. His perfectly polished black shoes were stamping the grass noiseless, and he could hear the movement inside the house. There was a woman in the kitchen cooking something that smelled like a burned chicken probably in her attempt to make lunch, and there was someone in the room upstairs not moving probably reading or staring at something. He quickly checked the upstairs windows if he was being observed, but he wasn't. Damon ran a hand through his hair as he found himself on the veranda, in front of the door, trying to calm his nervousness and excitement unsuccessfully before knocking. He was never sent to the specimen's home until yesterday, so let's just say that this was going to be interesting.

Maybe this will be the place where he will found out the cause of the girl's transformation, he thought when his fist found the wood. Maybe the secret is hiding in her past.

He wasn't left to wait for long before he heard the woman's footsteps approaching and the door opened revealing a still young looking woman probably in her late twenties with light brown almost blond looking hair and green eyes with plenty of grey, but almost no light in them. She started to speak but he interrupted her, showing her the badge he took from his pocket.

"I am Damon Salvatore from the CRS; I am here to talk to you and your nephew about my newest research." He scanned her face when she stepped back into the house after she processed the information and figured out that he was a vampire, before continuing.

"Your veranda is really beautiful but I would really prefer to talk to you somewhere more privet, if you know what I mean." The colour left woman's face and she hesitated. He let her be, knowing she will do as he proposed. Letting the employee of the government into the house was one of the many vampires related laws and he was sure she wasn't stupid enough to break these.

"Of course, come one in." A shaky response came quicker than he expected.

He stepped in the anteroom with a polite smile as soon as the spell was broken, looking around the living room. "Thank you… Now why don't we go and sit on the couch and you will call the boy down so we can talk?"

….

Jenna's call was what pulled him out of his dark thoughts and he jumped not expecting it at all. Usually he would disregard her, but the sound of her voice screamed that something wasn't right, so he left his sisters room, closing the door gently behind him before heading downstairs in to the living room.

He froze at the sight. On the small table right beside a bowl of cookies, lay a CRS badge. For a moment it was like the whole world stopped as the fear filled him slowly but forcefully and cleared his head. There was a vampire in the house, someone from the centre that held Elena. A vampire. The next think that hit him was panic. Did they came for him and Jenna? Did they do something wrong? He took a deep breath and entered the room, only to be welcomed by a strange man with black hair sitting opposite his new guardian, who looked calmer than he knew she was, her twitch as he walked in to the room confirming that. The vampire scanned him with an unreadable expression on his face before speaking.

"Good, now we are all gathered." He turned to Jeremy. "As I already told your aunt, I am Damon Salvatore from the CRS. I am the head of the research team who is observing your sister, and I am to ask you some questions… Please sit." He mentioned towards the couch Jenna was already sitting on.

Jeremy didn't move. The man who was doing who knows what to his sister sitting not more than three steps away from him and bossed him around his own home? No word would be powerfull enough to describe the amount of hatred and disgust he felt towards the monster, but it was the fear and his aunt's look that made him obey.

"So you are familiar with the law about being questioned by the government employee, right?" He felt Jenna nod next to him. Of course they knew, they were reminded from the human news at least once a week. "Okay than. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

Jeremy clenched his fist behind his back. The vampire was being way to polite, causing the tension to grow every second. Jenna cleared her throat and he turned the attention to her. "I… I was just wondering if you could tell us how Elena is doing." She asked loudly and confidently, but her nephew could see right through her as she looked at the floor. She was scared.

When he turned to the unwelcomed guest a moment later he thought he saw an unknown emotion in his eyes, before his expression became blank again and he shook his head. "I am not allowed to talk about the process of-."

"But…" Jeremy tried to jump in to the conversation, only to be quickly interrupted by Jenna.

"Of course, we understand." He stared at her in shock. Is that really how much she loved Elena, not even trying to fight for her? They used to be almost like best friends, laughing and talking to each other for hours, playing video games with him and before the accident Elena actually promised her aunt to teach her how to cook some basics. His anger started to grow as the vampire started asking questions and ignoring his every single attempt to found out anything about his sister. All of them touching the boarder of what was personal: What was Elena like as a child, did she experienced any traumatic events in her early life, did they notice anything strange when she was young… And they answered all of them until he crossed the line.

"What were her parents and the relationship between the three of them like?"

The room fell silent for almost a minute and his aunt's hand tried to found its way to his, but he shook it away before she spoke, scanning researchers face.

"I am sorry, but don't think this question is acceptable at this time, we are still mourning."

The response came quickly and Jeremy could almost feel the unhuman persistence in it.

"It would be really helpful for the research." He could feel her body shaking next to him as she was holding back tears.

"They loved her very much… That's all I will say." The man nodded, turning to Jeremy again.

"And what was the relationship between you and your sister?"

The boy couldn't even think straight anymore, the hot rage in his heart causing red dots to jump in front of his eyes. He gritted his teeth, really trying not lash out.

"I won't answer this question."

"Well you will have to."

"What did you do to Elena?" He asked, disregarding the statement.

"I already told you I cannot tell you." The vampire's voice grew hard. "Now answer."

Jeremy stood up, his aunt instantly holding him back. "Jer…"

His eyes never left monster's face as he pushed her away. "Don't you dare call me that!"

"Calm down boy, you don't want to do this." Vampire's eyes carefully studied his face.

"You are wrong." The rage was strong, too strong. "What. Are. You. Doing. To. My. Sister?"

"I cannot give you this information. Now stop acting like a total idiot, sit back down and answer the question."

He could feel his feet move, but it was like he had no control over his actions, like his rage was compelling.

The surroundings suddenly became smudged, he heard a scream, and the next think he knew he was pushed in to the wall on the other side of the room, his body trapped in the arms of the monster its eyes drilling in his soul, but no compelling him.

"Stop resisting. _Now_." He stopped as the fear predominated his anger. He could see Jenna still standing in front of the couch, her palm covering her mouth.

"It looks like you have luck on your side, little Gilbert." The vampire stated, and Jeremy looked at him in confusion. "You should both be happy that it was me who was sent here. You realise what you just did was incredibly stupid, right? I could kill you right this second and not even be punished for doing it." Jeremy just looked at him and the researcher must have found something in his eyes, because his tone was different when he continued. "Now because you are really lucky I will make a deal with you… If, and only if, you will answer all of my questions and not case anymore trouble, I will tell you how you sister is doing before I leave. Is that clear?"

The boy nodded.

"Good." The vampire's hands left hid sides. "Now tell me… What was your relationship with your sister like?"

They were talking for almost an hour after that, both him and Jenna telling him everything he wanted to know, hoping they can hold him by his word. When the man seemed to cross all of the questions he had written on the piece of paper he picked up the his case and pulled the two needles out of it, causing Jeremy's body to tense, before the sentences he wanted to hear the whole conversation reached his ears.

"Elena is fine. Almost to fine regarding the situation she is in, she was very shaken and confused at first, but she is better now, she even asked about you. I think that is all you need to know."

After five days relief ran through him at last. She is going to be OK. If what the vampire said was the truth, she could still be saved and will be OK if he will get her out soon enough. He let out a shaky breath he didn't realise he was holding, but his moment of relief was quickly ruined when the researcher informed them that he will have to take their blood.

….

They sat in silence for almost five minutes after the vampire left, and Jeremy could feel the tension leaving being replaced by calmness until it was broken by his aunt.

"So you realize what you did was pretty stupid, right?" She looked at him, her voice soft, like she was talking to a toddler.

"Well at least I did something while you were all polite and obliging." He stood up and headed towards the stairs, but Jenna caught his hand in hers.

"Hey. You know I had to do this, right? He could report us if I didn't invite him in."

He shook her hand away. "Don't even start."

"You really shouldn't lash out at him."

"I said don't"

"Just listen to me for a second." She started to sound desperate, causing him to lose his temper again. She didn't do anything. She didn't fight.

"No, I won't listen to your excuses anymore. You haven't done anything. You probably just faked your love for Elena right; you didn't even try to get information about her out of him! That is the truth, right? You don't give damn about her. You don't give a damn if she dies or is being tortured and god knows what are they going to do to her! As long as you are safe it doesn't bother you." He couldn't hold his opinion back anymore.

"I was trying to protect you!" She stated as her eye filled with tears. "Your parents…"

"Don't you dare to say they would do the same! How you even dare to talk about them? Face the reality, Jenna. They would die for Elena, they DID die for Elena and you are standing here not even trying to get her out? If you are not doing anything you are allowing those monsters to do whatever they like. You are on their side, Jenna. And you sicken me because of it. You are just like them."

He ran up the stairs leaving her in her despair, not caring if she was crying. In his eyes she deserved it.

**Reviews welcome ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi ;)**

**Another chapter for you, an interesting one… And welcome new readers, especially ****Jessica - of Loki's Army, an alert about you following came right before I started to write this authors note, so I just had to greet you in it : ) Hope you like it….**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

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**Chapter 8**

The school bell has rang almost ten minutes ago and the hallway was empty as Jeremy closed his locker forcefully, causing the loud noise to cut the silence. Even though he knew he was late he didn't even bother to hurry on his way to the class. It has been a week after the vampire visited and it was the last time he heard anything about Elena, before Jenna forced him to go to school again. The rumours reached him there, rumours about his sister being some kind of an angel. He didn't know what to believe and truth says he didn't care. All he wanted was to save her, no matter what happened to her, when she was still alive. But time was running fast and his plans were getting more and more desperate.

He found himself standing in front of history class a minute later, hearing his teachers' strong voice even from where he was standing. _The first vampire war. _Great, like he wasn't sick of this monsters already. He entered when he heard a pause in the lecture, walking to his sit quickly, not saying a thing when mister Saltzman raised his eyebrows at him, but then decided to let it go.

When the eyes of his classmates left the boy the teacher continued where he left off. "When the feedings became frequent, our ancestors armed themselves with everything that can harm a vampire and started to form special groups almost like gangs which started to kill their attackers. There weren't many deaths in the beginning but after a few years' time members of these groups became more and more skied, causing many civilian of vampire race to lose their lives... So that's when their race decided to act."

The ringing in Jeremy's ears appeared as soon as the word innocent left man's mouth, causing him to grind his teeth, knowing that he won't be able to hold himself back for long. He should go home when he still had the opportunity. History was always a brainwash, when it came to the parts in which vampires were mentioned, making them look like victims or human saviours and this was the reason he hated it. It was hard not to yell that all this was a lie even before, but now, with god knows what happening to Elena and his friends avoiding him it seemed almost impossible. He closed his eyes for a second trying to think about something nice, but he couldn't remember anything.

"After they guaranteed that their kind is safe, they came to an understanding to protect us and them, which provided a balance between our kinds and shoved us that we can operate together like a normal society."

He couldn't be quiet anymore, he wasn't capable of it. "You mean like a completely totalitarian system, in which we are threatened every day and have to provide food for the ones who think they are above us…."

"Hold it right there." Mr. Saltzman stopped him, before he lowered his voice. "We will have to talk after class." Jeremy shot him a look, but then slugged, not even caring about what kind of rebuke he is going to get. School really wasn't the most important thing right now, but getting told off by the school principle really wasn't one of his plans for today.

….

"Close the door and sit down, please" The teacher told him after they entered his study, his voice not as hard as Jeremy expected caused him to obliged immediately, Mr. Saltzman following his movements and sitting on the other side of his desk.

"Do you know this would be the second warning you got this week?" The man said, but the boy could sense that he was teasing him a little, confusing him.

"Would be?"

"Yes, would be. You won't be getting one today, but you should know what you did was reckless." Mr. Saltzman's eyes drilled in to his, before he added something else that completely stole boy's attention. "You are not as alone as you think you are."

His expression was screaming trustworthy, emphasized by his short sand colour hair, but Jeremy know better than to be naïve. "What…?"

The teacher ignored his unfinished question, handing him a card with an address and a telephone number. "Now if you will excuse me…. I still have some work to do."

Jeremy stood up and slowly walked to the door thinking about what just happened as they closed behind him, subconsciously playing with a card in his palm until he realised that there words written on it with a blue pen and brought it closer to his eye, to read them.

_My house, tonight, 11 p.m._

* * *

Damon stood at his office holding an x-ray picture towards the light again, as he did at least twice a day since he got it last week. He placed it on a special light than so it was easier for him to look and narrowed his eyebrows at what he saw, like he did every time, thinking hard, occasionally browsing through the internet or some of his books, hoping the stories about angels might give him the answer, knowing that if he won't in next few hours, his boss will sign the permission for using "the old fashion way" to unveil the mystery that will help them with the research.

He didn't want this to happen, thought, and cursed when his time ran out. If he would find a clue, just a little clue, he could be able to solve this the easy was. But of course there weren't any. Not a single one. How could it be as they never found a specimen like the girl? He signed and collapsed on his chair, giving in, thinking about what was about to happen, trying to get rid of his bad feeling. It's not like this wasn't a typical process in cases like that and it won't hurt her or anything, it just felt wrong and he could only hope that he won't lose his last chance because of it.

His thoughts wondered back to Elena. She could take this easily, he knew she could, yes her body was breakable, but she was strong. She seemed to be happy to see him every time he walked in to her room now, sleeping the rest of the time. It wasn't like she could do anything else between those white walls; the specimens were not allowed to have any kind of entertainment, and sleep was probably the only thing that didn't drive her nuts. It was hard to wake her, thought, he spent almost fifteen minutes trying, before giving up three days ago and from that on he only entered the room if he saw that she was awake trough the peephole.

The ringing of his phone brought him back to reality and he waited two rings before answering, knowing it was Blakemore.

….

She opened her eyes, slowly waking from quiet sleep, but didn't bother to sit up. Alluding to the lights that shined with all their brightness she could tell that it was still day. Afternoon maybe? Or evening? Surely she had already eaten her lunch. She lost the sense of time, right after this strange tiredness started, causing her to sleep almost all of the time. But it didn't feel like normal sleep where she was usually haunted by nightmares now. It was a dreamless sleep. It was deep and black pressing on her eyes, causing them to close quickly, after she felt it creeping after her. She was only left with a half of a minute before she fell asleep where she was, right at the spot. It scared her the first few times it happened, but now she got used to it, happy that this happened. Sleep was better than being bored, waiting with nothing to do, your mind running in circles, and waiting for your jailer researcher to come to talk to you.

They have formed a kind of understanding over past two weeks, Damon and her, even if they never talked about it. After the first week she could already figure out that he snapped at her because of his own problems, whatever they were, and will not hurt her if it won't be necessary for the research. That and the fact that she was isolated from other people caused her safety distance to shorten and she couldn't say that she wasn't afraid of him anymore, but she trusted him enough that she believed he told her the truth about her research process, answering all of the questions he asked her except the personal ones like about her family, friends or her life before her unexpected transition, even if he was being professional about this she drew the line at her families safety. She asked him many questions about them, but only got little information. Her brother lived at her aunt Jenna; they were both sad but fine, trying to continue their lives as normally as possible. Three facts, that was all, but it was better than nothing.

What drew her out of her misery were only Damon's around thirty minutes long visits, at least twice a day and fascination over all of the things he told her about her new form. Every few days she learned something more, like that her heartbeat was faster than usual and her blood was weird, but what excited her the most was that apparently she should be able to fly. If she could, she would try to put her wings at use the second she received this information, but then the exhaustion kicked in and the room was too small to try anything anyway.

She sat up and scratched, listening to footsteps that echoed through the hall, waiting to hear the familiar ones.

….

It must have been hours before she did. The sound woke her up completely and she stood up, both expectation and nervousness overcoming her as the long determined steps stopped in front of her room door and a second later they opened.

Dressed in a white robe like usual, with his black suitcase in his hand he motioned her to come to the door and she knew they are going to have another of their talks. The security assurance came quickly, but Damon stopped her before she could reach for the door handle, anxious to finally leave the trap of these four white walls and see the sun through the window.

He sighed, suddenly looking tired, when he looked her in the eyes. "Do I even need to remind you?"

She tensed a little, something in his voice and body language making her feel uneasy. "No."

He opened the door for her. "After you, than."

….

He could almost feel her fear as they reached the talk room, as he liked to call it. She didn't smile at the sunlight like she usually did, just slowly walked to her usual chair and sat down, waiting for him to start talking. Of course she sensed that something wasn't right, he should have expected it, but her sense for feeling with people astonished him anyway. Evan after two weeks it still fascinated him.

He took his time, slowly taking her file from his case to the table and reading trough last findings, trying to find something positive, before he will have to tell her about the next step of the research.

"I have two things to tell you about today and we will start with the good one, OK?"

She nodded, too quiet, and he forced a small smile on his face to destroy the tension.

"I finally received the results of the special test they did with your blood and they are quite interesting." He paused, wanting to hear her voice.

"Interesting?" She turned her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"They tested your cells and well, they aren't aging." He gave her time to process the information, scanning her messed hair and her face, before it lit up in realisation mixed with shock.

"I am not aging?"

Her expression was priceless, not failing to make his problems feel smaller. "Not physically, no."

She seemed to be lost in her thoughts, and he left her. It was a big change after all, especially for a teenage girl even for a special one.

"So that means I can't die?" She broke the silence.

"It's much more complicated than that." He continued after she looked him with interest. "You won't die from old age, but my co-workers found out that your cells can be destroyed or injured, and you know what that means… You can die if you got hurt or get ill, but not from your age."

"Well, that will take me some time to process," she smiled, all of the tension gone for a moment, before her eyes darkened again. "Now what's the other thing?"

He took a deep breath, wishing he wouldn't have to be the one to push her past brief smile into oblivion. But he told her that he will inform her of everything in the research that will affect her directly. He didn't tell her about his talk with her family because he didn't want to be asked millions of questions that would not be of use to anybody, but he would rather tell her about this now that have to deal with a panic attack in a next few days.

"We found something strange in your x-ray picture." He pulled it out of her file showing it to her, and tapped the small round bright thing, which seemed to be connected to her stomach and one of her main arteries. "It looks like an organ, and we are suspecting that it has something to do with the strange substance in your blood I told you about, but we aren't sure."

He scanned her face, knowing what his next words will cause and chose to use the most formal and fast way possible.

"We will have to do an operation to figure out what the organ is for, and maybe finding out what the substance is."

…...

She stood up completely in shock and backed away from the vampire towards the locked door, hearing her heart running wild. She could suddenly sense the room was squeezing her, feeling more trapped than ever before, one of her worst fears after she came to this place coming true.

_This cannot be true, please say that I am dreaming, please anyone, please…._The sentences kept running through her mind were the only thing keeping her sane enough to ask the only reasonable question in this situation.

"When?" Her voice sounded strange, even to her ears and she had to focus hard to even sense it.

"In a few days, surely this week", came the response from the other side of the room and then she could see him taking small, slow steps towards her, despite her blurred vision.

"Hey, listen to me." He said after he stopped at the border of her safety distance, crossing it when he took her palm in his. "It is not going to be like you are probably imagining right now. You will be given a sedative first, so that you won't be so afraid, you will get anaesthetics and fall asleep. As soon as we will be done we will heal you with some of our blood. When you will wake up, everything will be healed." She could feel him squeeze her hand. "You won't feel a thing, I promise."

She forced her head to form a nod, some of the panic disappeared but not enough for her to calm down. She knew she won't be able to do this until everything will be over, and when she was alone in her room again, she pleaded for the deep sleep to come after her again, the only hope she had was dreamless night and the trust she grew to have in Damon.

* * *

**So next chapter is going to be really interesting, there will be a conversation between Alaric and Jeremy. And I am really worried about the surgery…. How will it go?**

**Review or click follow/ favourite**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi ;)**

**This chapter is pretty tense so I won't be long. I want to thank you, story followers, all twenty of you. This number is really encouraging and if you fell in love with this story at least half as much as I did when I started to write it… You should know that amount of my love towards you is twice as big as yours. **

**And Sere'sLight: A huge thank you for your reviews. You are the best!**

**Love,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

The neighbourhood was dark and quiet; Jeremy could clearly hear the church bell ringing in the distance and looked the time. It was three minutes until eleven on his watch, making him feel more uneasy than he already was. It certainly wasn't the best idea to come here alone, he knew, but he couldn't trust anybody, hell , he didn't have anyone to trust. If he would tell Jenna she would never let him go, so he left the house secretly, walking downstairs quietly and slowly opening the front door, trying not to make a single sound and waking her up. He succeeded in that task, but despite he knew Mystic Falls well, finding Saltzman's house wasn't easy, especially when he was stopping and looking over his shoulders every three seconds. It wasn't the dark what bothered him; it was what or who it could be hiding in it.

The house he found himself standing before was smaller than his family's home, but just as white, almost glowing out of the darkness. He headed towards the front door stepping carefully, scouring big hedgerow with his eyes, praying that this wasn't some kind of a trap. He was too paranoid to relax and his heart betrayed him every time he tried, sending adrenalin trough his body, waking it up completely. His movement activated sensor light on the veranda and the boy jumped, his fist resting on the wood, hesitating. This probably really wasn't the best idea, but it was his only hope to really see his sister again, he reminded himself. _I have to do this. _Just as he was about to knock the door opened, reviling his history teacher, who greeted him without a word, just moved so the boy would be able to enter. He did and the door closed behind him with a quiet click, but it echoed in his ears. He felt trapped for a moment and that reminded him who he was here for again.

"I am glad you came, Jeremy." The teacher spoke than, motioning towards the sitting area. "We have a lot to talk about."

Jeremy followed the men's moves and sat on a foetal which was most far away from him, still not comfortable. His voice was quiet as he forced himself to speak.

"Why did you want me to come here?"

"I needed to talk to you and the school is not the safest place. It's less possible that someone would eavesdrop…"

"Would you please get to the point? I didn't come here in the middle of the night to listen to covert hints and rubbish." He was tired of waiting and getting false hope, he had to know the answers now. "Why did you need to see me?"

"I want to help you get your sister back." The response came quick, causing the boy to freeze.

"H-ow do…"

"How do I know you want to save her?" Mr. Saltzman clearly expected him to be shocked by his statement. "She is your sister and you love her, so of course you want her back… It's really not the hardest thing to figure out."

Jeremy closed his eyes for a moment, overcome with hope. This could be his only chance.

"So how could you help?"

"I have a few friends who don't agree with the political order here and are not scared to do something about it. We help the people who want to leave the continent, getting them in touch with the right groups. We also have many sources of secret information. It would take some time, but we would be able to get her out." He stopped for a second and scanned him with his green eyes. "We assume you have information about her, and you know her better, so we decided… Or let's say I convinced them to let you help. If you decide to cooperate I will tell you more."

Jeremy already knew what his answer will be, but had to clear one thing first. "But why? Why would you possibly risk everything to get out someone you don't even know?"

"You heard the rumours. If they are true she will be the one to save us all, we have to try."

"And what if they aren't?" The boy asked, not trilled, the tension returning.

"Well we won't be sure until and if we succeed… So you will have her back in both cases."

* * *

The time kept passing by unnoticed, as Elena slept most of the time, panic rushing through her every time she heard Damon's footsteps coming closer, but he calmed her every time, saying that they are still not ready for her. It was killing her, the wait not letting the fear to leave her heart not for a second so she wondered sometimes… Wouldn't it been better if she would have to go to under knife the second Damon told her about what they are going to do. The sleep was her only shelter, where the fear couldn't find her. It was more and more common, surprising her with its persistence, scaring her. She wished for the dreams to find her desperately, but for a reason unknown to her they never did. She didn't tell Damon about this, thought, convincing herself that it was nothing important, that he didn't need to know but in reality she just didn't want him to take away the only escape she had. It was her secret, only hers.

She was flapping her wings slowly, concentrating on the felling of wind creasing her feathers so much that she jumped when she heard the key turning in the lock. She could feel the panic returning as he walked through the door, no suitcase this time, and looked at her. All of the hope disappeared as their gazes locked for a second. She knew what his word will be before he even opened his mouth, his voice soft but strict.

"Come. It is time to get you ready."

She obliged, slowly standing up, feeling the cold cement under her bare feet and soon after Damon got the security approval, they found themselves in a room Elena was never in yet. It looked like a consulting room but with much more equipment in the small plastic cupboard that were attached to the wall and three computers. The whole area smelled like disinfectant and a smell she didn't know but guessed that was iodine.

Damon led her to the bed in the middle of the room slowly, observing her before handing her a rubber band "I need you to tie your hair and put this on," he mention towards something that looked like a shower cap and was lying on the bed. "While I prepare the things we will need later, OK?"

She nodded using her shaky fingers to untie the knots in her messy hair, that haven't been brushed since the evening before she headed to Caroline's party. Tears began to gather in her eyes as she thought of all of the times her mother did the exact same thing, or how she used to do that every morning, before all this happened. Strange, how she could not recall any other happy memories like she would have to find something that reminded her of them. Probably because of the fear. She wasn't so afraid that something will go wrong and she will die than she was afraid of the pain she was going to feel if this happens and of what this would cause for Jeremy. How alone he would feel then. She wanted to see him so badly, to hug him, to make sure that he was OK, that he didn't lose hope yet… He needed her and she wasn't able to get to him. She hated this place, for stopping her. She was terrified. A tear fell from her eye, silently drawing a wet path over her cheek.

She tensed as someone lifted her head up, slowly, scanning her face, before whipping the tear of it watching it form a small drop on his finger pad. Damon. He must have noticed that she was done already, even if she didn't realise it. It seemed that he could feel her trembling because he let go of her face, finding her hand and squeezing it, his voice a quiet whisper, his blue eyes sympathetic. "Remember my promise?"

She took a deep breath, trying to collect herself. "I do."

"Good." He let go, picking up a pill and a glass of water from the cupboard. She looked at it, with confusion and caution. "I told you about it once. It will calm you down, so you won't be so scared anymore, nothing else." She took the glass from him slowly, putting the tablet in her mouth and closed her eyes at the taste, before washing it with water.

"Now, it is goanna take fifteen minutes for it to start working. All you have to do is lie down and try to relax." He left the bed side as soon as she did as he told her and she could hear him opening the drawers on somewhere behind her head, the sign of his presence strangely comforting. She couldn't be resting for more than five minutes when the dizziness started, making her vision blurry, before a strange feeling overtook her, like she would be only able to watch her emotions not being able to feel them anymore, like she would be pulled out of her body. She knew she was afraid, but she didn't feel fear or anything else. She wouldn't like it in any other circumstances, but in that moment all she felt was warmth as she sank in to relaxation. …

Damon could see that the pill worked, when he sat on the chair next to her bed again, her empty eyes making it easy for him to notice. She seemed relaxed now, but he knew it was all a trick, a chemistry trick, useful in that moment, but still. He hated to see her emotionless, like she was broken.

He inserted the canals in after that and stuck the electrodes on her, explaining her what he is going to do and why at his every step of the procedure until it came to the key part. She looked him in his eyes, her mouth and nose covered with a plastic mask as he emptied the needleless injection into her holding her graze until her eyelids fell shut and her breathing changed its rhythm in to slower one, her breaths deeper.

….

"Do you have everything?" He asked the co-worker who was committed to look after the surgical instruments. He closed the cork or the swab test, when the man nodded, smelling the iodine through his mask as he signed in relief. "Then we are done."

The operation went as planned, they opened her, found the strange organ observe and took a picture of it before opening it and taking the swab that will revile what is the strange substance in the girls blood. He had a hard time no to be worried and jumping in his surgeon mode during the process, having to look at her as just a piece of meat after she brought him so much hope bothering him. He couldn't help himself as he scanned her sleeping face, surprised how it can look so peaceful even with the tube sticking out of her troth.

"It is going to wake up in ten minutes, Salvatore." One of his helpers reminded him waking him from his thoughts with a robot like voice.

"I know. Hand me the blood, please. It's time to heal her wound." He replied, eager to do so, not wanting to watch her like this anymore, and moment later the needleless injection with vampire blood was placed in girl's canal. He pushed the plug down slowly, counting to ten in his head, observing the injury for the last time. _Six…. Seven…. Eight…. Nine…. Ten…._ Nothing happened. He waited some more. Still nothing.

"Maybe it is not enough." One of the men cut the silence while other was already holding another dose to him. He said nothing, while he emptied it into her. He has done the computation himself and regarding her body weight one measure should be enough. Maybe he should take into account her wings too after all. The longer they waited the more he became worried. The wound still wasn't healing when he saw one of her fingers twitch.

He panicked. "Get the tube out! Quickly!" He helped one of the surgeons to pull it out of her while the third held her mouth open. Her other palm moved and this time his co-workers noticed it too, screaming that she is waking up and trying to hold her hands in place, handing him another injection, but his teeth already dag into the flesh on his ulna, right where the two stubby veins were, filling his mouth with his blood, before he pressed it against her lips, trying to get as much as he could to run down her throat while Elena's signs of awakening became stronger and stronger.

"Come on, work, come on," he urged, but the girl's stomach was still open and bloody, his hope for the blood to work weaker by the second, but he couldn't give up yet, not on her. He flinched as he felt her whole body jerk and was welcomed by her eyes full of panic and pain as she started to cough his blood up, her body trashing on the table. He screamed for the man to roll her over so she would be lying on her side, fearing that the liquid is going to suffocate her. A scream left her lips before a jet of the blood hit perfectly white tiles, turning them into red ones in a beautiful contrast.

Damon stood in powerlessness, trying to come up with something, scanning the room quickly, seeing the surgeons pressuring gauzes over Elena's wound, so that she wouldn't lose so much blood, but he could see from their faces that they knew what he knew. They had less than two minutes. Another scream left angels lips before she vomited his blood again, like it pained her to have it inside her, like her body couldn't take it… The contrast. She couldn't be compelled; she couldn't keep down the blood, she was sleeping a lot lately… It had to be it. Vervain.

He screamed for the vampires to keep her as still as possible, as he ran out of the room and up the stairs, breaking the house rules, using his full speed, but he couldn't care less. The door of the section in which they were trying to create pills that would, when taken, protect vampire from the effects of vervain flew open, the force he used slamming them into the wall.

"I need a bottle of vervain! Now! It's an emergency!"

Everybody freeze and looked at him, confused.

"Hurry! It's urgent! " The room remained silent and he was preparing to start to threaten someone to get what he needed, when a woman with short black hair stepped in front of him, handing him a bottle. He snapped it out of her hand and not delaying to scream his thanks sprinted back downstairs.

….

The sight when he opened the door of the surgery room again was bad, really bad. The blood was now covering the whole wall he was facing and Elena was trashing around, more and more conscious of what was going on, screaming, the gazes his mates were holding soaked with her blood.

His hands shook as he searched for the injection in one of the cupboards, and tried to fill it with vervain when he found one, making sure to get rid of all the bubbles. He blurred to Elena's side holding her hand as still as he could when she was resisting before the needle pierced her skin at the inside of her elbow and pushed the plug down, hoping he was right and that it will heal the injury. And as soon as he emptied the injection Elena's body stilled as she lost consciousness.

* * *

**I know this was pretty shocking. Review?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi ;)**

**Thank you all for your reviews on the last chapter, your feedback was the biggest yet. :) This one is longer than my usual updates are and I really tried hard to finish it until tonight, because I am going on holiday tomorrow to the place without internet connections. So that means that next chapter is going to be posted late, probably in more that fourteen days. I know it will be a long wait but it is going to be worth it, I promise.**

**Love,**

**AGirlThatDaresToDream**

* * *

**Chapter**** 10**

The first thing she felt was softness all around her like she would be lying on a fluffy cloud, sunken in its warmth. It took her some time before she realized that her eyes were closed and that she would be able to see the light if she opened them, but she didn't want to. Not now when she felt so safe and comfortable, not being able to remember why she had missed these feelings so much. She didn't care, not until she began to acknowledge the pressure on her palm, and light pain in her abdomen, the sense of security leaving her quickly, making her restless. Something was wrong. Her eyes became aware of the aggressive light, shining through her eyelids, forcing her to blink just to be welcomed by the sight of a florescent light on the ceiling, before a soft voice cut the silence, startling her.

"Hey." She flinched, trying to back away from the speaker who seemed to be on her left side, only to be stopped by powerful stab of pain. She heard the sound of the chair drawing black lines on the floor, the pressure leaving her hand and before she even had time to cry out Damon's hands laid her back in her previous position, carefully. "It's me. Please don't move, I know it hurts and it isn't good for the wound. I will explain everything, just don't move…"

She glanced around, trying to figure out where she was and found herself in the same white room she knew so well, the only difference was that the bed was different, a stand with an infusion bags which weren't attached to her standing next to it. The memories came back to her after the words left his lips, last ones nothing else but a blur of shouting, pain and red liquid that tasted like metal.

"And drink this first." He started lifting her head up, bringing the glass which certainly wasn't filled with water, towards her lips. She panicked, turning away.

"What's this?" Her voice sounded strange, too raspy.

"Vervain. I know you don't understand what happened and have no reason to trust me anymore, but you have to drink this, OK? It will give you strength."

She let him help her to get the liquid in her, getting used to the taste, holding vampires graze as she took small, slow slips. She never drank this herb tea, yet. It was far too worthy, that one bottle that her family possessed being the only protection they had if the war would start again. How could it give her strength? Why wasn't she healed? He promised her that she would feel nothing and now his eyes were full of guilt. She sensed energy gathering inside her again, immediately, when the last drop fell in to her mouth. She really needed to know what caused him to break that promise.

"What happened?"

His eyes left her face and he stared into the distance. "Everything went as it should; the operation was successful and nothing strange happened until we tried to heal you up with vampire blood. It just didn't work, not even when we exceeded the dose that was suitable for your body weight and you started to wake up… So I tried to feed you my blood, but you just threw it up, like your body couldn't take it. The whole situation went wrong really quickly and as I tried to come up with a solution something happened that brought me to the point where I started to link facts together. You cannot be compelled and there is something strange in your blood, you couldn't keep mine down… So I thought that maybe vervein would help. You lost consciousness right after I injected it to you and, well, you were asleep ever since."

"How long?"

"Almost two days. Your body turned all of the energy it had into healing the wound. We sew it up, of course, but it is still healing slowly, a little quicker than human wounds do, thought."

She closed her eyes trying to slow down her thoughts enough to form another question. "So the thing in my blood was vervain? Does…"

He must have figured out what she wanted to know, stopping her. "Yes. You need it to survive. I have done some calculating and a glass a day should be enough for you to function normally."

They both seemed to get lost in their thoughts, as the room grew silent, Elena still dealing with all of the facts. Not being able to keep vampire blood down, like vampires couldn't keep vervain; they needed blood, she needed the herb… It looked like she was the complete opposite of them, and it scared her. If things were like this now, how would they be if they thought she was their natural enemy?

….

He stared at the girl, trying to imagine what she was thinking about. What would he think in a situation like that? He didn't know. But he owed her something. Something that would probably not mean much to her, but a whole lot to him. He needed to apologise to her, something he hasn't done since more than a hundred years ago, yet it felt like it was a thousand. It was one of his life rules only to say he is sorry when he really meant it, when he really felt remorse and that didn't happen often. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair, his sudden movement catching her attention and before he knew he was staring into her eyes, her gaze making it easier to do what he must, his lips started to move before he even knew, his voice quiet, but determined to show his emotion.

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes scanned his face for a while, but it looks like they found what they were looking for as she took his hand in hers. "I know."

He laid her hand back on the bed after he broke their eye contact and stood up. "Ok… Then I will just… leave you to rest and brought you another painkiller in a couple of hours." He headed toward the door, but stopped when he felt her catch his hand in hers again turning around. He understood what she wanted as soon as he saw her expression and sat back at the chair on her bed side, not completely facing her as they sat in silence. Who would he be if he would take the only comfort she could have away from her? He brought their hands loser to his chest, slowly drawing small circles at the back of her palm with his thumb as she started to talk, her voice distant.

"I think I was six then. We were sitting in front of a TV which was on mute; mum, dad and me doing nothing really, just cuddling and listening to the sound of wood cracking in our fireplace. I was almost asleep, my head on my mother's chest while dad wrapped arms around both of us…" She paused for a moment, letting out a shaky breath she was holding. "And I was able to hear their hearts beating, and they voices discussing plans for the next day quietly. It just felt like… like I was safe, careless, just lying there…" She stopped talking, and Damon knew that she was remembering that moment that was secret to her, while he wondered how many times since she was here she escaped in it, continuing with his slow movements and never cutting the silence that wasn't caused by the fear and tension, but was full of peace.

* * *

The music was playing so laud that his ears were hurting, stiffening all other sounds that he would normally hear at this part of the day, causing him to notice that his alarm clock was ringing after it already fell from the shelf, the glass breaking and the clocks hand stopping at four a clock in the afternoon. He took his headphones off, picking the broken device and examining the damage. Today will be the second time he will meet Alaric to talk about the plan… In exactly half an hour. He will have to hurry.

He stuffed his phone in the bag, not bothering to put his drawing notebook and pencils out of it. They were as important to him as Elena's diary was to her; the only difference was that he was expressing his feelings and plans with lines and not with words. It would just feel wrong to keep this stuff at home, especially when he didn't know what exactly they would talk about tonight, only hoping they will start making a plan as soon as possible.

He walked down the stairs quickly, noticing Jenna in the kitchen, ignoring her when she asked him where he was going, slamming the front door behind him. He was still angry at her, even though he knew that she was trying her best to protect him and wasn't angry at her any more for her behaviour when the vampire came. He knew that the guilt will force him to talk to her soon. Although he didn't plan on telling her that he will try to save his sister, Mr. Saltzman and he agreed at this completely. She would only try to convince him not to get caught in illegal situations and would also be in danger if they wouldn't succeed. Sure, he will have to tell her once, but not today.

He found himself enjoying the sun, while he was heading toward the teacher's house, feeling its beams caressing his face, remembering how Elena used to stop in the middle of the road, smiling at the shining star, with her eyes closed and her arms high above her head. He tried to get rid of the memory as soon as thoughts of how she should be feeling know, probably not even being able to see the weather outside entered his mind. He needed to get her out.

He twitched at the sound of the car starting, the man he was supposed to meet with rolling the glass pane down, motioning to join him in the vehicle. He did so, surprised, putting the sit belt on as they already left the street.

"Mr. Saltzman?" No response. "Where are we going?" He tried not to sound like he was scared.

"First: Its Alaric or Rick from now on, I will let you decide on this one… And second: I can't tell you exactly… Some other members of the group want to talk to you before they except you in the rescuing as their opinion are still mixed. But you have nothing to worry about," he said probably noticing Jeremy's tension at the thought of driving into unknown, to talk to unknown people and smiled at him. "They won't bite."

….

They were driving for what Jeremy thought was almost an hour, but the clock said otherwise as the car shook from the holes in the forest macadam. They left pavement roads long ago, Alaric explaining that they have to make sure he won't remember the path to their meeting place. He was growing more nervous and tense every minute, not even trying to calm himself, knowing that it wouldn't work in the situation he was in so his heart beat was way too fast and his palms sweaty as the car stopped in front of wooden holiday cottage.

"We are here." Alaric put the car key into his pocket before tapping boy's shoulder and getting out of the car. He motioned for the boy to knock, the door opening before he could prepare himself and suddenly around thirty years old woman, with a long, messy, sandy blond hair and grey eyes was looking at them, but only addressed Alaric.

"You are late again, Ric. We've been waiting." She said, trying to mimic an angry voice and hide a huge grin that was fighting to stay on her lips.

"Nice to see you too, Lynn." The man smiled, as she pulled him into a quick hug. "And I have an excusable reason this time, don't you think?" She grew serious after the words left his lips and she scanned Jeremy from head to toes, her voice hardening before lighting up again. "We will see… Come, Ethan really wants to finish this thing before it gets dark." They followed her trough the hall, the adults still talking, giving the boy a chance to look around. The interior of the house was as beautiful as the outside, every object reminding him at the beauty of nature. His observing ended soon, thought, as they heard the sound of claws scratching the floor and were soon welcomed by a big, smiling lump of white fur. Alaric patted Samoyed's head as the dog welcomed him, before turning to the woman again, sending her a "seriously, again?" look.

"What? Kay has to work today. I couldn't just leave him at home alone." The roll of his eyes was the only respond she got, before they walked into the lounge that was joined with a dining room. Two men were sitting at the table, talking seriously, but stood up instantly when they saw them enter, roughly hugging Alaric as he tapped their backs. They both looked older, one of them had a dark skin and short, black hair wearing glasses, while the others skin was white, his brown greying hair a prove that he is the oldest man in the room..

"It's good to see you, man." The brown haired one said, before looking at Jeremy. "And I see that you succeeded." He walked towards the nervous boy, offering him his hand. "You must be Grayson Gilbert's son. I' am Ethan…" he pointed towards the other guy after the handshake. "This is Jonas Martin…" The man with glasses nodded towards him. "And I see you already met Lynn. Why don't we just go sit on the couch and get something to drink? It will be more comfortable to talk."

….

"How old are you young Gilbert?" Ethan's raspy voice cut the silence that grew in the room while they were slipping their drinks.

"Fifteen." Jeremy answered; not sure what turn in their future talk this number will cause, but relaxed when the men only raised his eyebrows.

"And already determined to save your sister from the vampires. Want to renew your old family tradition, huh?" The boy looked at him confused, he couldn't mean his parents. They always put too much energy trying to protect them from the monsters. They would never risk their safety fighting a secret battle. "Your great grandpa was one of the best vampire fighters in town at his time and he was thirteen when he started practicing." He smiled as he saw Jeremy's more and more confused face. "No I am no that old. I own one of his diaries, very interesting one I must say; it shines a light on man's hidden truths…" He seemed to get lost, remembering what he read, but the boy didn't let him continue.

"I am not starting the family tradition again. I just want Elena back."

Ethan scanned his face before nodding. "I know. Tell me than… Do you have any information about her or her abilities that could help us get her out?"

"I don't know anything about her abilities, if she has them they must have manifested after the accident." His words were almost unintelligible, because he talked with such speed, reviled that they were at the start of making of a rescue plan. "I only heard the rumours…"

"Which ones?" A man with the glasses talked to him for the first time, curious.

The boy took a deep breath. "About her being some kind of a saviour, some say sent from God, others created by nature."

"And do you believe them?" Jonas asked him.

"I didn't think about them much, I don't really care if they are true or not. I guess I will see when we get her back."

"You seem very sure that we will succeed." The woman eyed him, his words reminding him that his sister could already be dead. But he refused to believe that.

"Well as far as I know she was fine two weeks ago that is if the vampire told the truth of course…"

"What?" Both Jonas's and Ethan's voices interrupted him, but Alaric was first to collect himself. "A vampire came to talk to you? At your home? What did he want to know?"

"Well, yes. One afternoon he just came, started ordering me and my aunt around our own house, asking all kinds of questions about Elena, saying that he needed this information for the research, took our blood and left. I somehow managed to force out of him that she was OK."

"Why did he need your blood sample? And as far as I know that kind of a questioning isn't usual either." Jonas stated.

"Well at least we know one thing now; it is not much but anyway. Looks like the vampire that is the head of girl's research owns a daylight ring, it's a pretty rare thing this days, usually only the most important ones has it." Ethan said. "As for the other things… We really should ask Rose to help us out. Then we could start planning…"

"Hey, hey, hey, hold your horses." Lynn jumped in. "You seemed to forget that all this today was organized to figure out if the kid can join us and figure out if he is trustworthy. If he chickens out and tell on us we are all dead. Let's just decide about this first. "

"I don't think there is much left to decide, Lynn. He already knows who we are and that we are going to try to break into the CRS." Alaric pointed out. "He was in the minute we contacted him."

"Maybe, but still he is fifteen, for God's sake and…"

Jeremy didn't waist a second, interrupting her. "If you are trying to say that you don't want to ruin my life or endanger me, you have nothing to worry about. It has been like this since the second they took Elena. Nothing is in your hands." Four pairs of eyes fixated on his face as he spoke, before exchanging glances, telling each other what they think without a word. There was a minute of silence before Ethan spoke, offering him his hand.

"Then we agree. Welcome to the club, kid."

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